EMERCOM to send out notifications on emergencies to mobile phones

Setting up of rescue military units of permanent readiness, the development of a system of public information with focus on new technologies, and the formation of culture based on safety and security awareness are the major areas of activity in terms of civil defense development, a senior official at the Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations and Civil Defense /EMERCOM/ told Itar-Tass Monday.

“EMERCOM’s major task today is to form the all-Russia comprehensive system of emergencies information and notification,” said Sergei Shaposhnikov, the chief of the ministry’s department for civil defense.

“The system will be based on novel technologies, including the cell broadcast, which is based on the dispatching of various types of information by GSM operators,” he said that this information is to be shown on the displays of mobile phones.

“This is necessary to bring notifications taking just a few seconds to read to absolutely everyone,” Shaposhnikov said.

Pilot zones for the tests have been established, he said. The system has already been tested in a number of regions and tests in the metro will be conducted soon.

“We’ve signed full-scale agreements with three major mobile service operators,” Shaposhnikov said. “The system will reach out to all the Russian population and will come on stream in 2011.”

In addition, EMERCOM is organizing military rescue units of permanent readiness. They will be based on structures of civil defense troops and their formation in all of Russia’s federal districts will be over by January 1, 2011.

“These units will be adapted to performing the tasks related to the elimination of aftermaths of large-scale emergency situations and we’ll fit them out with top-notch equipment over a period of four years,” Shaposhnikov said.

A special event dedicated to Civil Defense Day was held Monday at EMERCOM’s Center for Particularly Risky Operations.

It brought together the veterans of Local Air Defense forces of the USSR and civil defense, as well as EMERCOM’s officials.

The organizers displayed a number of newest technologies, including the demolition robot MF-4, which will be used in the search for and elimination of explosive objects, as well as inspection at and visual surveillance over dangerous areas.